Portable electrical outlet receptacle connected to electrical supply cords are widely used to provide a flexible, convenient means for supplying electrical power in a building or room. Sometimes the electrical cord is mounted to a reel so that the length of cord which is not needed for a particular application is stored on the reel, and the cord is completely wound onto the reel after use for storage.
Prior devices include those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,979,576; 3,056,863; 4,114,736; 4,725,697; and 5,236,371. Many prior attempts are not directed to units adapted for semi-permanent mounting on or in a wall.
Wall mounted electric cord reels tend to be bulky, taking up inordinate amounts of space when mounted, particularly when they are mounted to the surface of a wall. Further, electric cord reels generally are difficult to mount in areas having low ceilings or in otherwise cramped spaces. It is also a disadvantage of certain wall-mounted cord reels that the cord is unwound in a direction parallel to the wall, with no provision to direct the cord away from the wall toward the area of intended use of the outlet receptacle.
It is desirable to mount electric cord reels having a portable outlet receptacle in locations that may have low profiles but which are convenient, and capable of being installed without an inordinate amount of time or expense.
The present invention provides an electric cord reel adapted for general purpose use, and which allows the unit to be mounted either wholly set into a wall cavity, or directly to the surface of the wall using conventional fasteners such as screws and wall anchors. All of the components of the unit are located within a metal housing which may serve as an electrical box.
The reel may be conventional and includes a spool which receives and stores the electrical cord. The spool typically includes a rewind device such as a metal clock type spring to rewind the cord onto the reel for storage. The cord may, however, be extended outwardly of the cabinet housing in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the wall on which or in which the unit is mounted. The distal or free end of the electric cord is provided with an electrical outlet receptacle to provide portable power over a wide area. The use area depends, of course, on the length of the cord. As used herein, the term “outlet receptacle” is intended to be broad. As persons skilled in the art will appreciate, the outlet receptacle could equally well be an outlet box or a single, duplex or more receptacles in a portable unit.
The front cover of the housing is provided with an elongated, tapered opening leading to a holder for the outlet receptacle in the storage position when the cord is fully retracted into the housing. The receptacle holder has a taper corresponding to the opening in the front cover, but the width of the cover opening is less than the width of the receptacle so that when the receptacle is in a lower, storage position, the front cover of the housing traps the receptacle. Thus, the receptacle may be used as a wall outlet in the storage position since it is secured and captured by the front of the housing, yet is readily accessible through the front opening in the cover.
The length or height of the front opening is longer than the length of the outlet receptacle so that the outlet receptacle can be slid along the holder to a removal position at the top of the opening, permitting the outlet box to be manually removed from the holder, and the cord to be unwound from the reel for use. As with conventional cord reels, a pawl and sprocket arrangement secures the cable in the unwound position but, upon further pulling, as with some tape measurers, the cord may be rewound fully by the automatic take-up reel.
A series of guide rollers are mounted within the housing for guiding the cord as it is unwound from the reel through the holder and the opening in the front cover of the housing. This enables the cord to be unwound from the reel along a plane generally parallel to the wall, but then the cord is guided and turned approximately 90° by the guide rollers so that as the cable leaves the opening and the holder, it may be pulled in a direction generally perpendicular to the wall and directed over a wide range of angles, laterally or vertically, relative to the opening in the front wall of the housing to provide greater flexibility of application and use.
A bezel may be provided for use when the unit is mounted within a wall cavity. The bezel may be a plastic frame provided with clips for snapping the bezel on the cover after the unit is mounted within a wall. The bezel covers the inner edge of the mounting opening and overlaps the edge of the front panel of the housing to provide a professional, finished look.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment accompanied by the attached drawings wherein identical reference numerals are used for similar parts in the various views.